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Do YOU Have the Guts to Be Beautiful?

May 15th, 2012 by

Do YOU have the guts to be beautiful is a question coined by Mitra Ray, Ph.D., co-author of the book by the same title which discusses hydration and diet in relation to beautiful skin.  Mitra Ray will be speaking on the topic of “Beauty and the Brain” on May 31st in Markham.  I have reserved a limited number of seats for this event, so please contact me for your FREE ticket as quickly as possible.

Location: Monte Carlo Inns (Savoy Event Venue)
7255 Warden Ave, Markham, ON  L3N 1B4
Doors Open 7:00 pm  Start: 7:30 pm

It’s mid-month and I’m curious to know how many of you have taken me up on my challenge to drink more water.  How has it been for you?  Have you noticed any changes to your health?  When I decided to drink the proper amount of water for my body size (click here to calculate how much you should be drinking) a few years ago, I noticed many improvements – most notably to my skin.

I researched and discovered some of the benefits of keeping my body hydrated are:

  • Water is the main lubricant in the joint spaces and helps prevent arthritis and back pain
  • Water increases the efficiency of the immune system
  • Water prevents clogging of arteries in the heart and brain, and thus helps reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke
  • Water is directly connected to brain function–
    • it is needed for the efficient manufacture of neurotransmitters including serotonin
    • it is needed for the production of hormones made by the brain such as melatonin
    • it can improve our attention span
    • Water helps prevent memory loss as we age, reducing the risk of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease
    • Water affects our appearance, making our skin smoother and giving it luster
    • And last, but not least – water reduces the effects of aging

With a list as impressive as this, I quickly became a fan of pure, clear drinking water.  I’ll admit the transition from juice and tea to water wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be and remember the wise words of my old Naturopath:  “Imagine using apple juice, orange juice, or herbal teas inside your dishwasher.  Yes, your dishes would have liquid running over them, but over time, there will be a build-up of residues.  Now imagine running your dishwasher with water.  Can you see how much cleaner your dishes will be?”  I was convinced and given a recipe that helped make the transition much easier.  It’s a lemonade recipe from the Master Cleanse which is posted on the “free” page of my website.

At my follow up visit with my Naturopath, he explained that when your body lacks the water it needs, it goes into a rationing mode.  “Think of a sprinkler system whose pressure is turned too low to reach all the grass on your lawn.  Some parts stay green, but other parts begin to turn brown and die.”  When our bodies are in a state of drought or dehydration, the body manages the water so that the vital organs (brain, heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys) remain well watered.  The non-vital organs (joints, gastrointestinal tract, and skin) are less important to survival, so symptoms of dehydration usually show up there first.  He summed it by saying “Remove water from plums, and you get prunes.  Remove water from your skin, and you get wrinkles.”

To learn more about the importance of hydration and diet for beautiful skin, I recommend reading “Do you have the guts to be beautiful?” by Jennifer Daniels, M.D. and Mitra Ray, Ph.D.   It’s a wonderful book with simple, natural practices for reversing wrinkles, blemishes, graying, and baldness, and feeling young again.  What others have said about her book:

“Mitra Ray’s book is unique and very useful.” – Deepak Chopra

“I admire Dr. Ray’s work and enthusiasm.” – T. Colin Campbell, Author of The China Study

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Wednesday, May 23rd – Green Connections Networking
8:30 am to 11:00 am – Windfall Ecology Centre 93A Industrial Parkway South, Aurora, ON

Saturday, May 26th – Spring Vegan Expo 
10:00 am to 10:00 pm – Windward Co-op Lakeview Room, 34 Little Norway Cres., Toronto, ON

Sunday, May 27th – The Healing Cooperative
7:00 pm to 9:00 pm – Lobby Level Media Room, 30North Park Rd, Thornhill, ON

Thursday, May 31st – Mitra Ray, PH.D. Presentation “Beauty and the Brain”
7:30 pm to 8:30 pm – Monte Carlo Inns, 7255 Warden Ave, Markham, ON

Friday, June 1st – Mitra Ray, Ph.D., Special Presentation for Health Professionals ($20 lunch)
11:30 am to 1:00 pm – St. Andrews Valley Golf Club, 4 Pinnacle Trail, Aurora, ON

Friday, June 8th – Healthy & Happy Networking & Potluck 
10:00 am to 1:00 pm – Private Residence, Mount Albert, ON

Saturday, June 9th – Toronto Raw/Vegan Festival 
10:00 a.m. to 8:00 pm – 918 Bathurst Street, Toronto, ON

Sunday, June 10th – Toronto Raw/Vegan Festival 
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 pm – 918 Bathurst Street, Toronto, ON

I would love to connect with you! Please feel free to leave a comment here on the site. Don’t forget to leave a link back to your own blog via the commentluv feature. Or, you can connect with me here or at one of the events above!

Until next time,

Dagmar

 

 

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Water – The Single Most Important Nutrient For Our Body

May 2nd, 2012 by

Did you know that water is involved in every function of the human body and is therefore the single most important nutrient for our bodies?  Our bodies are 70-75% water, yet our brain cells are about 85% water.  According to the Environmental Protection Agency, we can live five to seven weeks without food, but the average adult cannot last more than five days without water.

With the lack of snow that we’ve had this winter, our municipal government may ration water usage for watering our lawns and gardens again this summer.  This means we can only water our lawns on certain days of the week and certain times of the day.  When your body become dehydrated, it reacts in a similar manner and begins to ration water.  Besides this, your body loses almost two litres of water a day through perspiration, urination, and exhalation.  Because of this, most North Americans live in a mildly dehydrated state and never realize it.

When your body reacts to this dehydration and sends you warning signals, be observant and respond by drinking water.  My challenge to you this month is to drink 1-2 glasses of water whenever you feel symptoms of dehydration.  Simply give it a try and let me know how you do.  When you have a headache, don’t take a headache tablet – drink water.  When you have joint pain, don’t take a pain reliever – drink water.  When you have heartburn, don’t take an antacid – drink water.  If you’re feeling depressed, don’t take a mood enhancer – drink water.  I think I’ve made myself clear (no pun intended).

If you wait until you are thirsty to drink water, you are most likely already dehydrated.  Become more in tune with your body and recognize the symptoms of dehydration.  You’ll soon come to the realization that your body is often “crying out for water”.  For an in depth explanation of this, you can read “Your Body’s Many Cries for Water” by F. Batmanghelidj, M.D.

Just as we need water, plants need nutrients and water too. I had a wonderful time during earth month, attending the Total Health Show in Toronto, getting to meet raw foods specialists Markus Rothkranz and David Wolfe in person, helping to plant a tree at the East Gwillimbury town offices with our Green Connections networking group, and joining my neighbours on a clean-up of the ditches leading into town.  The Seedy Saturday was lots of fun too.  An empty Tower Garden was on display and I asked people to guess what it is.  Some of the answers were quite funny, but by playing “20 questions”, they would figure out that it’s a vertical garden.  To learn more about vertical planting, I highly recommend reading “The Vertical Farm” by Dickson Despommier and please read my last blog post.

I realize that this is a new concept for many people, so I’ve placed the Tower Garden on display at the STAPLES store at 17810 Yonge Street in Newmarket for the entire month of May.  You can drop by to get a first-hand look as well as read some literature on how easy this tower is to grow your garden, whether in your yard, on your patio, or even on your balcony!  You’ll see that the reason your plants grow twice as fast as in soil is because of the patented mineral solution that is added to the water at the base of the Tower Garden!

Have you seen the Tower Garden yet? I’d love your feedback. And don’t forget to leave a link back to your own blog via the commentluv feature here on my site.

All this talk has made me thirsty! I’m off for a refreshing glass of water….bottoms up!

Dagmar

 

 

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Vertical Farming – NSA Juice Plus The Tower Garden

Apr 17th, 2012 by

click image to enlarge

I’ve just returned from an NSA (Juice Plus) conference in Phoenix, Arizona, where our newest product – The Tower Garden – was launched.  I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Dickson Despommier after he gave a thought-provoking presentation on the future of farming on our earth.  Dr. Despommier is Professor of Environmental Sciences at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.  He heads “The Vertical Farm Project” and is author of the book, “The Vertical Farm”.  As a visionary, he has looked into the future, and seen a world with too many people and not nearly enough land to support them.

Like all great visionaries, Dr. Despommier also sees a solution to the problem: vertical farming.  After being introduced to the Tower Garden, he saw that NSA (Juice Plus) is also a visionary company offering a viable solution.  The Tower Garden simplifies traditional gardening, using a unique vertical garden system that makes it easy to grow your own fresh fruits and vegetables at home.

Dr. Despommier started his presentation with a simple fact: “The world’s population is already approaching 7 billion.  The most conservative estimates tell us it will grow another 3 billion by the year 2050 – and 80% of those 10 billion people will live in urban centres.  Using traditional agricultural practices, we’ll need new land equal to an area considerably larger than the United States to feed all those extra people.  Yet, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is already in use today.”

This impending disaster is what led Dr. Despommier to become an outspoken advocate of vertical farming and his vision for the future of agriculture.  “Vertical farms, many stories high, will be situated in the heart of the world’s urban centres” he imagines.  “If successfully implemented, they offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply, and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming.”

In my last blog post, I shared the importance of eating a rainbow of raw and fresh fruits and vegetables on a daily basis.  As I mentioned earlier, the Tower Garden simplifies traditional gardening, using a unique vertical garden system that makes it easy to grow your own fresh fruits and vegetables at home.  Because of its unique aeroponic technology and vertical design, the Tower Garden uses less than 10% of the water and land required by traditional, soil-based agriculture.  And since there is no soil in an aeroponic system, there is no agricultural runoff – the biggest source of pollution in our world today.

Dr. Despommier closed his presentation with these empowering words:

Farm Smart – Save Water – Save Land – Save Lives

Let the Earth Repair Itself

Help Keep Our Blue Planet Green

Until the links are set up on my site, you can contact me directly to purchase your Tower Garden.  I also welcome you to pay me a visit at the Seedy Saturday Garden Show: Saturday April 21, 2012 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Aurora Cultural Centre, 22 Church Street, Aurora, Ontario to see the Tower Garden in person.

Have you heard of the Tower Garden? I’d love your feedback! Please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog as well via the commentluv feature here on my site.

Until next time,

Dagmar

 

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Reconnecting You to Your Health and Happiness

Mar 28th, 2012 by

Spring is a time of renewal and new beginnings and as such, the perfect time of year to launch my new blog along with a special introductory offer just for you.  In order to reconnect you to your health and happiness, I will be sharing information and health tips with you on a more regular basis. I welcome you to post your comments and share your information as well.

Through books I’ve read, courses I’ve taken, and experience I’ve had, I’ve repeatedly come across seven key components to regaining and maintaining your health. I will share health tips with you from these seven key areas to help you make a small change in your daily routine. It’s not always easy to make these changes, so by doing them gradually over time, you’re more likely to make lasting changes. Remember to celebrate your accomplishments along the way!

Today’s health tip is on the importance of eating a rainbow of raw and fresh fruits and vegetables on a daily basis.  You’ve most likely heard this many times before, but what exactly does this mean?

Rainbow:  As children we might have been told to ‘eat our greens’, but now health experts agree it’s just as important to eat our reds, oranges, yellows, blues and purples, too. Scientists now know that many of the naturally occurring chemicals (phytochemicals) responsible for giving fruit and vegetables their bright colours actually help keep us healthy and free from disease. Fruit and vegetables contain hundreds of colourful phytochemicals that act as antioxidants, which help to ‘mop up’ potentially harmful molecules called free radicals before they get a chance to damage cells. As a result, a rainbow of antioxidant-rich fruit and vegetables can help to protect against a whole host of problems, including heart disease, arthritis, cancer, cataracts and even premature aging.

Raw:  You need to eat raw fruits and vegetables if you intend to stay healthy.  Without raw food, there is not enough quality nourishment for your body to maintain its healthy state.  Raw foods contain the important ingredient of enzymes – the key elements that enable your body to be nourished and vital. Enzymes are the sparks that start the essential chemical reactions our bodies need to live. They are necessary for digesting food, for stimulating the brain, for providing cellular energy, and for repairing all tissues, organs, and cells.  It’s important to remember that food enzymes are destroyed at temperatures above 118 F. This means that cooked and processed foods contain few, if any enzymes, and that the typical North American diet is enzyme-deficient. This points back to the importance of eating raw fruits and vegetables because they are “live foods”; that is, foods in which the enzymes are active. The more enzymes you get, the healthier you are. And the more raw foods you eat, the more enzymes you get.

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